How agricultural robots are generated and the current development status and trends of agricultural robots

Abstract: As the saying goes, "food is the paramount necessity of the people." Agriculture, as a fundamental and guarantee industry for economic development, has always been highly valued by various countries. In recent years, China has continuously accelerated the mechanization of agriculture and actively improved its modern agricultural level. The emergence and application of agricultural robots have greatly changed the traditional farming mode and brought new changes to the development of modern agriculture in China. Let's take a look at the current development status and trends of agricultural robots.



How Agricultural Robots Generate Agricultural Robots Development History Agricultural Robots Classification Field Production Agricultural Robots Facilities Agricultural Robots Agricultural Product Processing and Identification Robots Agricultural Robots Characteristics of Agricultural Robots Development Status of Agricultural Robots in the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, and China Agricultural Robots Development Trends

Agricultural robots refer to intelligent robots used in agricultural production, which can be controlled by different program software to adapt to various tasks, feel and adapt to changes in crop types or environments, and are a new generation of unmanned automatic operating machinery with artificial intelligence such as detection (such as vision) and calculation. Compared with industrial robots or robots in other fields, agricultural robots have a diverse working environment, mainly in unstructured environments, and their work tasks are extremely challenging. Therefore, generally speaking, agricultural robots require a much higher level of intelligence than robots in other fields.

How agricultural robots are generated

The history of agricultural robots can be divided into two stages. Before 2000, agricultural robots were mechanical and electrical automation equipment, and after 2000, they were automation equipment incorporating new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine vision.


Since the 1980s, some developed countries have been committed to the research and development of agricultural robots due to their large land and limited population, and have successively developed various agricultural production robots such as grafting, cutting, transplanting, and harvesting. The emergence and application of robots in the agricultural field have brought strong impetus to the development of agricultural automation, precision, and intelligence in these countries.

Development history of agricultural robots

The Ag Tracker, which scans fruits and collects soil and seed data, was invented in 2007.

In 2012, the robot HV-100, which can move potted seedlings in plant nursery rooms, was developed. In the same year, the lettuce robot Lettuce bot, which can remove excess seeds from the lettuce soil, was born. In 2012, the Wall Ye robot, which can cut or cultivate grape vines, was also born. The robot can collect data on soil health status and grape inventory.

A strawberry picking robot was born in 2013. The robot uses two digital cameras to capture the color of strawberries, determine their ripeness, and pick ripe strawberries.

At present, robots for planting rice are being developed, which can analyze the barren environment of fields.

Classification of agricultural robots

Fertilization robots, cultivation robots, weeding robots, spraying robots, vegetable grafting robots, harvesting robots (such as tomato harvesting robots), picking robots (such as strawberry picking robots, citrus picking robots), etc.

1. Agricultural robots for field production

Agricultural robots used in fields include field sowing robots, field harvesting robots, field plant protection robots, field cultivation robots, and field transplanting robots.

The harvesting of fruits and vegetables in the field is one of the most time-consuming and laborious production processes in the production chain. In addition, harvesting operations have strong seasonality, high labor intensity, and high costs. Therefore, ensuring timely fruit harvesting, reducing harvesting intensity, and labor costs are important ways to ensure agricultural income growth. However, due to the complexity of harvesting operations, the level of automation in harvesting is still very low. At present, fruit picking operations both domestically and internationally are mostly carried out manually, with costs accounting for about 30% to 50% of the cost. Moreover, time is relatively concentrated, labor is heavy, and working hours are tight. As an important type of agricultural robot, the field fruit and vegetable picking robot has enormous development potential in reducing labor intensity and production costs, improving labor productivity and product quality, and ensuring timely fruit harvesting.

2. Facility agricultural robots

Robots used in facility agriculture include grafting robots, flower cutting robots, vegetable harvesting robots, plant factory robots, and sorting robots. Among them, grafting robots include vegetable grafting robots and oil tea grafting robots. At present, grafting propagation technology is relatively mature, but artificial grafting efficiency is low. Therefore, increasing research investment in grafting robots, promoting the promotion and application of high-speed and high-quality grafting robots, can achieve considerable direct economic benefits and ecological environment value.



When the grafting robot works, the operator only needs to place the rootstock and scion plates in the designated positions, and can independently complete tasks such as grasping, cutting seedlings, joining, fixing, and arranging seedlings, which is time-saving, efficient, and has a high survival rate.

3. Agricultural product processing and identification robot

At present, agricultural product processing robots include meat processing robots, milking robots, shearing robots, and food safety appraisal robots.

The characteristics of agricultural robots

1. Agricultural robot operations have strong seasonality.

The seasonal production of agricultural products is strong, and agricultural robots have strong targeting and single functions. Therefore, the use of agricultural robots also has strong seasonality, resulting in low utilization rates of agricultural robots and increased usage costs.

2. The working environment of agricultural robots is complex and ever-changing.

The working environment of industrial robots is relatively fixed, while the working environment of agricultural robots is generally difficult to predict. Therefore, robots for agricultural operations need to have strong environmental recognition ability and different action responses to different environments.

3. The delicacy and complexity of the homework object.

The homework object of agricultural robots is crops, and the delicacy of crops puts higher requirements on the actions of agricultural robots: flexible processing is required when the execution end of agricultural robots contacts with the homework object; The shape of the homework object of agricultural robots is complex, and the growth and development of crops are greatly affected by the surrounding environment. Therefore, the spatial form of crops has great uncertainty, which requires agricultural robots to judge different spatial forms to achieve different actions.

4. The particularity of the objects used by agricultural robots.

The target audience of agricultural robots is farmers. With the increasing aging of the population, the population engaged in agricultural production will also enter an aging era. Therefore, agricultural robots must have high reliability and simple operation characteristics.

5. The particularity of agricultural robot prices.

The early research and development investment of agricultural robots is large, with complex structures and high manufacturing costs, resulting in high prices that exceed the affordability of ordinary farmers.

The current development status of agricultural robots

United States

The first thing to introduce is the world superpower - the United States. A Minnesota agricultural machinery company has developed a unique fertilization robot that can develop different fertilization strategies based on the actual situation of different types of soil. Due to the fact that robots can scientifically formulate the most appropriate fertilization plan, there will be almost no more fertilizer waste, greatly reducing agricultural costs. Moreover, robots proficient in fertilizer science also know how to fertilize in order to minimize the impact on the environment.

Germany

Next, we will introduce Germany, which is known for its rigor. Germans have always been renowned for their proficiency in high precision and cutting-edge technology, but how could they fall behind in the field of artificial intelligence? The weed control robot BoniRob, developed by German agricultural experts, can travel rapidly between various plots of land on the farm, accurately locate and remove weeds, and can remove 120 weeds per minute, much faster than manual and drug weed control.

UK

In the UK, where mushrooms are abundant, the Hillsow Agricultural Machinery Research Institute has developed a robot that can pick mushrooms at high speed. Its picking efficiency is twice that of manual picking, and it can pick 40 mushrooms per minute. This robot uses visual image analysis software to identify the number and grade of mushrooms, then uses an infrared rangefinder to measure the height of the mushrooms, and the vacuum suction handle determines the required bending and twisting force based on the calculated specific situation, thereby automatically completing mushroom picking.

France

Finally, we would like to introduce France, which is world-renowned for its wine. As is well known, the wine industry in France is exceptionally prosperous, which has led to the development of the French grape cultivation industry. But currently, workers in French plantations are worried that their jobs will be replaced by a robot called Wall Ye. It is reported that Wall Ye is an agricultural robot developed specifically for vineyards. From plant pruning, monitoring soil conditions to taking care of the health of vines, Wall Ye can handle all the tasks that plantation workers can do.

China

Compared with foreign countries, the research and development of agricultural robots in China is still in its early stages. China's agricultural robots started relatively late, and it was not until the mid-1990s that China began to research and develop agricultural robot technology.

At present, the agricultural robots developed in China include: plowing robots, weeding robots, fertilization robots, spraying robots, vegetable grafting robots, harvesting robots, picking robots, etc.

Development Trends of Agricultural Robots

The agricultural upgrading driven by robot technology is opening up new space for improving the lives of farmers. Agricultural robots can not only engage in field operations such as planting, pesticide application, and harvesting, but also play an important role in animal husbandry. Robots will bring a new revolution to agriculture.

Agricultural robots integrate information technology comprehensively, integrating perception, transmission, control, and operation, greatly advancing the standardization and normalization of agriculture. Not only does it save labor costs, but it also improves quality control capabilities and enhances natural risk resistance. And through intelligent perception, recognition technology, and ubiquitous computing communication perception technology, crops are connected to the Internet of Things for information exchange and communication, in order to achieve intelligent recognition, positioning, tracking, monitoring, and management functions.

With the rapid development of industrialization, urbanization, and modernization in China, the research and development scope of agricultural robots is gradually expanding.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has explicitly proposed in the "Twelfth Five Year Plan" for the development of service robot technology to cultivate the service robot industry into a strategic emerging industry in China's future. Based on an average annual sales growth of 12% and a selling price of $140000 per unit, the global sales of agricultural robots will exceed 14000 units by 2021, with sales exceeding $2 billion.